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Sunday, May 10, 2015

On why I left the church, and how I came back...

When I was a freshman in college, I walked away from God
and the church. Actually, I’d say I ran away screaming.

My first six months of college I attended a campus
Christian group. We would meet every week, discuss the Bible and hang out.
Then, one week we started talking about judgment. No, I don’t mean we talked
about how we will be judged, or salvation. We didn’t talk about being saved
through grace, or acts, or some other theological debate. I mean, the group of
people I was sitting with started discussing who was going to heaven and who
was going to hell. I thought that was bullshit.

I was so offended by the conversation that I left and didn’t
come back to God for about seven years.

My falling off started small, but grew over time. I began
doubting God’s existence. I wondered how a gracious God could create a world
with so much bullshit. I was angry that I suffered from depression and had
experienced so much loss, while other people seemed happy and full of life. I
stopped attending church. I never read the Bible. I stopped praying. I stopped
believing. If you asked me if I believed in God, I would have told you ‘Hell,
no!’

The thing about God’s voice, is that once you’re really
heard it – it is impossible to stay away. Although I thought I had left
everything I once knew about Christianity, God still wanted me.

After seven years, my life started turning to shit. My
now ex-husband was going to leave me. Graduate school was terrible. I was
suffering from three solid years of depression. I felt like I had nothing left.

I got into my car and decided I was going to drive it off
of a bridge. I started driving around looking for a place where I could gather
enough speed, and where I could drive off without hurting anyone else.

But then I heard something. Something was telling me that
this didn’t have to be the answer. Instead of driving my car off the bridge, I
called a suicide hotline. The woman on the other end, whose name I don’t even
remember, saved my life. She convinced me to call my brother. My brother came
and got me.

Two days later, I started going to church again. I
googled the church that was closest to me, and just started going. I was
terrified that someone in the church would be able to see that I had been fighting
for team atheist, and that they’d throw me out. No one did that.

I use to think my journey was beautiful and unique. I
guess in some ways it is, because it is mine. However, since time has passed I’ve
talked to at least a dozen people who’ve followed a similar path. I think a lot
of people leave the church because people within the church are shitty to them.

For some strange reason, growing up going to church, I
always had this weird idea that church-goers were somehow better people. After over
twenty years of going to church, I now see how naïve that is. I do think that
churches need to do more to let people know that Christians are not perfect,
and that pastors are people who sometimes fuck up. After attending church for a
few decades I hope I’m a better person. Even if I’m better, I’m never going to
be perfect. No matter how hard I try, I’m probably going to do something that
hurts someone.

Churches are full of people. And sometimes people are
really crappy. Hopefully, churches can be a safer (safer than work or home)
place where we can turn to each other in our times of need. But sometimes,
churches fail.

When you are crapped on in church, it is easy to look at
the church and blame God for the problem. It is also easy to think all
Christians are as terrible as the person/people that treated you poorly.

I’ve found that when I talk to a crappy sales person from
a company I often think that the cruddy sales person IS the company. The number
one reason people don’t return to a restaurant is a bad waiter. And the main
reason people leave a company is a bad boss. Does a bad waiter mean the whole restaurant
is terrible? Does a bad boss mean the whole company is worthless?

If you identify as a Christian, and you treat someone
like a jerk, it is probable that the person you treated poorly will think that
you are representative of all Christians.

I was able to come back to church because I was able to
make an important distinction. Going to church is a lot like going to a gym.
Some people are going to be really fit, healthy, and in shape. But there are
also going to be a lot of people that are unfit, and need to spend a lot of
time getting in shape. We don’t go to church because we are perfect. We go to
church because we are hoping to get better. If we all had to be perfect in
order to meet Jesus, none of us would be good enough.

If you’re reading this, and someone within the church has
hurt you – I want to tell you that I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry that someone
hurt you. That sucks.

If you’re reading this, and I’ve hurt you – I am sorry
for that as well. I’m sorry I was a crappy person.

In the campus Christian group, those people were just
being jerks that day. It doesn’t mean they are terrible people. It certainly
doesn’t mean God is terrible.

At the end of the day, the most important thing, is that
you are a child of God and God loves you. No matter what you’ve done, and no
matter what others have done to you, God loves you. In a perfect world we would
always be examples of Christ. We would let other people be themselves. We would
hold each other when we are in pain. We would protect each other, help each
other grow, we would be safe places in a storm. But we are people, and we will
fail.

No matter where you are, if you’ve ever heard the voice
of God – He is calling to you. He wants you to hear Him. He needs you. And if
you’ve ever heard the calling, you know that you need Him too.